I’m not much of a gardener and I really am ashamed of the fact.

Pizza is not normally known for its health benefits.

Since opening almost three years ago, Blue Plate Diner has been serving some of the most creative diner food in the city.

I’ve never had a rice cooker, but know I need one.

The makers of French’s mustard are sponsoring a contest, Do You Have the Skinny on Mustard?” And, what they want to know is how you use mustard to reduce your caloric intake. For instance, do you use mustard in dip instead of sour cream?

I had an e-mail conversation with my friend, “Wild Bill.” The topic of the morning was letting a restaurant owner know when the meal was less than perfect. He had breakfast at a local diner recently. The pork chop and biscuits were both excellent, but the scrambled eggs were dry and the gravy for the biscuits was a little burned. When he walked up to the counter to pay, the fellow at the register asked if his meal was OK, and Wild Bill told him about the eggs and gravy. “He had no reaction other than to nod his head that he heard what I said,” Wild Bill said.

“Wild Bill” e-mailed me recently asking about good places for breakfast.

I was quite surprised when I received a number of e-mails asking about my trip to St. Maarten.

I remember the first shrimp boil I ever attended. What’s it with all that food thrown out on the newspaper, I thought. Can’t they at least afford paper plates?

Here are my thoughts on the Times Free Press holiday recipe contest. They’re three good reasons to send your recipe in.

Hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Big River Grille opened in Chattanooga on Broad Street.

I received an e-mail from my sister recently that told me something I’ve never known before.

I got an interesting e-mail from the Park Hotel Weggis, a boutique hotel in Switzerland that’s a member of the exclusive Relais and Chateaux group of hotels and resorts.

I heard a woman talking about the rising price of rice on the news recently, and she said she’d just have to find other ways to get protein in her family’s diet.